Safeguarding Officer

Job Title: Safeguarding Officer

Contract: Permanent

Working Hours: 37*

Salary: £41,771.00 – £45,091.00

Location: North West Essex

Closing Date: 8th March 2026

The Role

The Safeguarding Department is a dynamic and high achieving department. This is a collaborative, positive and rewarding opportunity working within the communities of Essex, engaging with our most vulnerable members of society, following up high risk safeguarding concerns using a person-centred approach and ensuring efficient and effective case work which results in positive behaviour change

This role offers an excellent opportunity to continue to develop partnership working and sustainable initiatives that promote the reduction of risk of harm within the community.

If you think you can make a positive difference, are self-motivated with experience of working with vulnerable people, partner agencies and within the community, have excellent communication skills, are naturally inclusive and collaborative, this could be the role for you.

We have enclosed the role profile and person specification which provides more details including essential criteria for the position.

If you are excited by the opportunities to be part of our Safeguarding Team and think you can make a positive difference to our people and communities, we would love to hear from you.

Eligibility 

To be eligible to apply for these opportunities, you must:
Role Specific -Level 3 standard of education (e.g. A Level) or equivalent experience
Vehicle driving licence

How to apply  

You will be required to submit a CV detailing a minimum of five years employment and / or education history, along with a supporting statement of no more than 750 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria detailed below:

• Experience working with and supporting Vulnerable People.
• Experienced in creating working partnerships to offer a Person-Centred Approach
• Able to work with communities and/or partners to mitigate risk
• Excellent interpersonal skills, communicates professionally and develops constructive working relationships.
• Able to work on own initiative without constant supervision.
• Able to communicate effectively and professionally and remain calm and polite under pressure.
• Is approachable and confident in developing team members to acquire skills and experience.

You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count of your supporting statement should not exceed 750 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.

You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications) should you wish. Your CV and additional documents will be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).

Assessment and selection:    

The assessment and selection approach will be:

Stage 1

Application & shortlisting (assessment of your supporting statement will be made against the essential criteria detailed above, taken from the Person Specification)

Stage 2

Role specific panel interview and 10-minute interview (subject of presentation to be issued to shortlisted candidates)

Assessments will be made against positive indicators taken from the Code of Ethics and the NFCC Leadership Framework.

You can find the NFCC Leadership Framework here: NFCC_Leadership_Framework_Final.pdf (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk)

And guidance around the Code of Ethics here:

Core Code of Ethics England Guidance May 21 V0.pdf (ukfrs.com)

Guidance on Safeguarding polices can be found here:

Essex Fire – Safeguarding Statements

Should you wish to have an informal discussion with regards to the role, please contact Safeguarding Manager Karen Soanes karen.soanes@essex-fire.gov.uk

Our Culture and Benefits

Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.

You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits

Important Information for Firefighter Pension Scheme Pensioners

If you are currently in receipt of a pension from the Firefighter Pension Scheme, please note that taking up this role may affect your pension. Under pension abatement rules, if your earnings in this role, when combined with your pension, exceed your pre-retirement salary (adjusted for inflation), your pension may be reduced. For further guidance, please contact our Pensions team on 01376 576799 or email mailbox.pensions@essex-fire.gov.uk.

Safeguarding 

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.

You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.

This role will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  

Disability Confident

We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.

As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.

Our employee forums and partners include:

Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.

Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.

Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk

You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk

You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies and application processes via www.essex-fire.gov.uk/join-essex-fire